FIRST LOOK: The John Lewis Christmas ad!

It’s easy to feel manipulated with the glut of carefully packaged Christmas TV ads that come our way through November and December, and lordy knows my own cynical gene is horrifically overdeveloped. But hats off to John Lewis, early deliverers of the Christmas message of ‘gifts for everyone’ – the company has delivered a clever, lighthearted TV campaign that I’ve already watched twice with a smile on my face.

Yes it has the inevitable hashtags ready and waiting to exploit any social media buzz, and I don’t doubt or a second that John Lewis has its range of cuddly toy boxer dogs, foxes, badgers, hedgehogs and rabbits primed and ready to roll nationwide.

Even so, I like this ad much better than the pull-on-the-heartstrings mawkishness of 2015’s Man on the Moon.

Take a look at this hot-off-the-presses ad for yourself, and let me know if you think it’s brilliant or barking.